Bob and Ann in Greece 2008

Please visit May 10 slideshow

Vegitable Vendor

We had a free morning today. This meant that we could sleep in and have a leisurely breakfast. So we got up a little after 7:00 and had breakfast at 8:00. But we took our time at breakfast and even had our last cup of coffee on our balcony overlooking the sea. It was warm enough and calm enough to do that.

At 10:00 we took our bags to the lobby and walked into town. We hooked up with Toni and Joy who were going to the archeological museum with Ann after a short stop at a T-shirt store that they had seen the day before. Unfortunately, they couldn't find the store and began to wander the crooked old town streets looking for it. I bailed right away to take some photos. Ann left soon after to visit the museum.

There was a sports car rally at the port. Old European cars paraded one-by-one along the sea wall through busy pedestrian traffic until they were finally out of sight. The waterfront turned back to normal after that and it became a very pleasant morning. There was even a local market where they sold vegetables and fresh fish.

I was up and down many narrow streets, some of them more than once. I met up with Ann at 12:30 and we found the maritime museum. We walked in and then walked out when we found out the entry fee was 4 euros. From our limited peek at the exhibits, it didn't look like it was worth it. So we sat down at a waterfront cafe and had a beer and a cappuccino freddo while resting our tired feet.

Our Ferry

At 1:30 we met our group and had Greek pizza for lunch - tomatoes, olives and feta cheese. Then it was off to the ferry port to catch our jet boat to Naxos. We sat and dozed for 30 minutes while we cruised at 37 mph. Offloading our tour with luggage from the busy ferry in Naxos was tumultuous as usual, but this time we had taxis waiting for us instead of a bus.

View from our Room

A wild taxi ride took us to the Naxos Beach II our hotel. Our room is a suite with a kitchenette. It is decorated with antique furniture, brass bathroom fixtures and lamps and the shades are all hand blown glass. The view is of the town and port which are a few miles away.

One of the Kouros Stutues

We were promised a hike today, so at 5:00 we got into our fleet of four taxis and drove up into the hills. We hiked up a path of marble stones (Naxos is famous for its marble) to see Kouros statues. These large marble archaic style statues of super-sized men were left toppled on the hillside around 570 BC when they broke while being transported. The huge statue of Apollo that was the Colossus of Delos was made here.

The City from the Portara, a Temple of Apollo

After the hike, we got into our taxis and drove into town so that we could visit The Portara, a Temple of Apollo, and take a short walk on the city streets. Then it was back to the hotel for dinner. Harris bought some fresh fish in Mykonos and it was prepared for us. Those that didn't want fish ordered from the menu. It was a good dinner, but we didn't finish it until 10:00. Because we ate so late, we have become unofficial Greeks.

The map of our route is below. To see it in Google Earth, follow this link.